It is to be appreciated that any discussion of documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the present invention. Further, the discussion throughout this specification comes about due to the realisation of the inventor and/or the identification of certain related art problems by the inventor. Moreover, any discussion of material such as documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the invention in terms of the inventor's knowledge and experience and, accordingly, any such discussion should not be taken as an admission that any of the material forms part of the prior art base or the common general knowledge in the relevant art in Australia, or elsewhere, on or before the priority date of the disclosure and claims herein.
Sporting clothing typically fits closely to the wearer's body to reduce wind resistance, to avoid catching or dragging on equipment (e.g. bicycle seat) or to make the wearer harder to tackle in the case of contact sports. Sporting clothing is also typically manufactured of fabric that is lightweight, breathable and does not hinder freedom of movement or restrict the wearer in any way. Some sporting clothing is designed to be particularly close fitting to provide compression and aid muscle recovery. It is also typically brightly coloured for fashion reasons and/or team identification.
Popular fabrics for manufacture of sporting clothing include Lycra®, Spandex®, often in combination with nylon or polyester. However, these fabrics tend to rip or tear when subjected to frictional forces. This leaves the wearer vulnerable to grazing if they lose balance at speed and slide along a track or playing surface. Furthermore, the repeated movement of popular fabrics back and forward across the wearer's skin (e.g., against the groin, nipples, arm pits or feet) can cause friction related blistering, chaffing and irritation of sensitive skin, particularly if the skin has been made damp and soft by perspiration. This is particularly problematic for long-distance runners and cyclists.
Grazing injury is a destructive process caused by separation of layers of skin due to mechanical forces. The skin structure can be traumatized by force applied perpendicularly to the skin and by shear force in the same plane as the skin. A sports participant such as a cyclist or horse rider falling at slow or fast speed is at high risk of suffering grazing injuries to their thighs, back upper buttocks, arms shoulders and upper back. Even runners falling at much lower speed are likely to suffer grazing to their knees, lower back, legs and thighs when they contact the track or roadway. Similarly, children may suffer grazing when the fall, trip or stumble while running or during other play activities. Furthermore, due to normal aging processes the elderly often have very fragile skin and can suffer grazing injuries when their skin rubs against the inner surface of shoes, other body parts, mobility aids or bed clothes.
Protective Fabrics
There are many different types of fabrics designed to protect the human body from a range of external forces, particularly direct physical or mechanical forces. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,959, light-weight body armour is made of woven or non-woven fabric composed of filaments of very high molecular weight polymers. Bullets impacting on body armour generally do not have sufficient energy and force to break a significant number of the filaments which make up the armour fabric. The impact can elongate, distort and deform the fabric, but doing so they expends and dissipates energy so that there is insufficient energy to penetrate the fabric. Aramid polymer filaments and yarns, sold under the trademark Kevlar®, and a polyethylene material, commercially referred to as Spectra® have been extensively used in these types of fabrics. (Kevlar® is a trade mark of DuPont Corporation; Spectra® is a trade mark of Honeywell.)
In the past, high performance technical fibre yarns such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,959 were limited to special applications such as protective body armours and composites in engineering applications. However, more recently their use has been expanded to general textile applications.
However, physical force associated with the penetrating energy of a bullet is significantly different to abrasive frictional force and a different type of protective fabric is required. U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,319 describes protective garments, such as pants and jackets, incorporating an abrasion-resistant fabric which is suitable for motorcyclists. The fabric of the invention incorporates a high performance fibre, such as Kevlar®, terried on a face side of the fabric and residing adjacent to the shell fabric of the garment. The aramid fibres are thermally stable up to 800 to 900° F., as compared to cotton which starts to decompose at 300 to 400° F. Additionally, these fibres do not melt like nylon or polyester fibres. Thus, while the heat and friction generated when sliding on pavement or other abrasive surface quickly tears away the cotton fabric of the garment, the high performance aramid fibres maintain their structure and effectively disperse the heat as the individual terried fibres ride up, around, and over the abrasive surface. However, the fabrics suitable for motorcyclists are not suitable for athletes because the fabrics are too heavy, inflexible and do not breath sufficiently.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,877 describes outwear garments for cyclists that substantially protect the wearer from cuts and grazing in the event of a fall or a crash. The outwear comprises protective fabric panels containing abrasion and cut resistant high performance yarn of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fibre of approximately 215 denier, such as Spectra® in combination with Lycra® or other yarns.
With all of these past improvements in protective fabrics there is still a need for new protective fabrics that do not detract from the wearer's comfort or freedom to move during sporting activities.